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"The Skinny" By Eric Hornick Game 30 Isles 3, Washington 1 Andrew Ladd and John Tavares scored goals in the first 1:34 of the 2nd ...

Monday, October 11, 2010

The Skinny: Isles 6, Rangers 4

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 2Islanders 6, Rangers 4

Never Say Die-LandersPA Parenteau and Blake Comeau scored power play goals 58 seconds apart in the final five minutes of the game as the Isles rallied from 3-2 and 4-3 deficits to

defeat the Rangers 6-4 in front of 11,748 at a Columbus Day matinee at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.Round 1The game featured a very entertaining fight between Zenon Konopka and Brandon Prust eight minutes into play. Konopka led the NHL with 33 fights a season ago, while Prust was tied for second with 25.DP Stops GaborikWith the game scoreless mid-way through the first period, Marian Gaborik was hooked by Doug Weight during an Islander power play setting up a penalty shot. Rick DiPietro stood tall in the nets, raising his career mark to eight saves on ten career penalty shots. It was one of 29 saves for DiPietro, who defeated the

Rangers for the first time since November 19, 2007.It's only the third penalty shot the Rangers have ever had against the Isles –all have occurred in games at the Coliseum. Chico Resch stopped Don Murdoch in

1978; Martin Straka scored against DiPietro on February 2, 2006.The Kids are AlrightThe Isles took a 2-1 lead after one period as Blake Comeau and Josh Bailey beat Henrik Lundqvist, sandwiched around a Brandon Dubinsky goal for the Rangers.A Ranger Period, until…The Rangers had the better of the play for most of the middle period, and scored

twice. Michael Del Zotto scored on a Ranger power play and Dan Girardi's blue line blast gave the Rangers a 3-2 lead just six seconds after the Isles killed a

penalty.It looked like the Rangers would take a lead into the dressing room, but Matt Moulson pushed one through Lundqvist with just 21 seconds to play to even the game. Moulson has now scored in five straight games, including the final three games of last season. (No Islander had a 5-game goal streak last season; Moulson

had a 4-game streak.)Rangers Grab LeadThe Rangers grabbed the lead at 12:46 of the third on an Artem Anisimov goal, but they couldn't hold it.

Power DisplayLess than 90 seconds after the Ranger goal, the Isles went to the power play on a Ryan Callahan tripping penalty. When Mark Staal joined him 46 seconds later, the Isles went on a 5-on-3 power play. For the second straight game, the Isles capitalized on a 5-on-3 as ex-Ranger PA Parenteau tied the game. Comeau and Bailey then went to work, with Comeau finishing to give the Isles a 5-4 lead with 3:26 to play. The Rangers pressed in the final minutes, but Frans Nielsen hit the empty net with 19 seconds to play. 6-4 Final.Two for ForeverThe Isles had been 2 for their last 52 on the power play against the Rangers before getting the two key pp goals in the third period. It's the first time since 2006 that the Isles have had a two power play goal game against the Rangers.Do You Remember Terry Simpson?The Isles finished 2-5 on the power play and are 5-13 (38.5%) in their first two

games. It's the first time since October 8-10, 1987 that the Isles have scored five power play goals in their first two games. Brett Sutter had 2 of the power

play goals in that stretch; Gord Dineen, Mikko Makela and Bob Bassen had the others as the Isles opened with wins in Los Angeles and Vancouver. The Isles finished that season in first place in the Patrick Division.

Lots of GoalsThe Isles have scored 10 goals and were only the second team to reach that total

this season. (The Rangers a few minutes earlier were the first) It's also the first time since 1987 that the Isles have scored ten or more goals in the first two games.Comeau Owns the RangersBlake Comeau continues his strong play against the Rangers. He now has consecutive 2-goal games against the Blueshirts and as totaled 7 goals and 4 assists in his last eight games against the Rangers. Nine of his 35 career goals (and two of his five multi-goal games) have come against the Manhattanites. Blake finished last season with a flourish (7 points in the last 4 games he played) and has started this season the same way (4 points in 2 games). Comeau's three points and +3 rating today both matched career highs.

Put the Kid to WorkIslander first round draft pick Nino Niederreiter recorded one shot on goal, a team-leading five hits and 3 takeaways in 14:48 of ice-time.

Get Well John!John Tavares missed a game for the first time in his NHL career. Moulson is now

the only Islander to play in all 84 games over the past 1+ seasons. Michael Grabner played 13:12 as he made his Islander debut.Don't Forget MeMark Eaton was a +3, marking the 10th time in his career that he has had at least a +3 rating.Fine ThirdsThe Isles have outscored their opponents 5-2 in the third period, and have outshot them 35-13.Six PackThe Isles scored six goals against the Rangers at the Coliseum for the first time since a 6-4 win on November 27, 1993. They had scored at least six against

the Rangers twice since then – led by an Alexei Yashin hat trick in 2002 and a Viktor Kozlov 4-goal game on December 3, 2006.3 in 2The Isles improve to 1-0-1 in their first two games. It's only the second time in the last eight 8 seasons (2-0-0 three seasons ago) that the Isles have earned

at least 3 points in their first two games.Off to the RoadAfter Monday's game, the Isles will play 12 of the next 15 on the road. Their three home games in that stretch are on October 16, October 29 and November 6.Season Series Stats This was the first of six meetings on the season and the Islanders now lead the series 1 game to none. The rivals will not meet again until a home-and home series on December 2nd-3rd.

Up NextWednesday, October 13 – Islanders @ Washington Capitals 7:00PM[Versus, WRHU 88.7FM]The Isles will be exposed to a national television audience as they begin a difficult two-game road trip in Washington against the Capitals.The Isles are 4-4-4 over the last three seasons against the Caps, who have accumulated 323 points in winning the Southeast Division in all three seasons. Last season, three of the four games went to overtime, with the Isles compiling a 1-2-1 record.The Isles have had success recently in our Nation's Capital, going 6-3-2 in their last 11 visits, dating back to December, 2003.This is the only game all season that fans in the metro-NY area will not find on

MSG+/MSG+2. Versus has the telecast. Chris King will have Islander radio coverage on WRHU.

Eric Hornick has been the statistician on Islander home game telecasts since 1982. Information contained in "The Skinny" has been gathered from various sources. Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since 1982. Visit my blog: forever1940.blogspot.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick